Lessons
by False Name Here
Summary: After leaving the group of rouges he had been raised with for the freedom of life as a loner, Finch (made up character),a young, curious, and stubborn cat, finds himself in the search for a new home. His problem however, is that he can't seem to find anywhere where he can enjoy being left alone. Will Finch have to change his ways to find home, and where might his paws wander?
1. Chapter 1

Lessons (Finch & Home)

Blinking wearily in the light that he was beginning to doubt he would see again after spending what felt like ages wandering in the cramped darkness of a tunnel that his curiosity more or less dragged him down. Finch was startled by the scene that now stretched in front of him. Dimly lit by a crag in the roof, and dotted along it's sides with other tunnel entrances, the cavern was fairly large and divided by a river that slid silently from one dark end of the cavern to the other.

After a moments hesitation Finch found his curiosity dragging his paws a few paces further into the space in front of him.

 _Its been a long day, if anything maybe I can sleep here for the night,_ he thought as he watched the thin scratch of moonlight shining through the crag in the roof dance on the river surface.

Always a cautious kit, he first turned back to the tunnel he had come through and scratched a line in the dirt in front of it. Turning back to the cavern now, Finch spent awhile exploring the rest of the cavern, measuring it up, and prodding the other tunnels with his nose collecting scents. Satisfied he was alone, and no badgers or foxes were lurking about, Finch padded back to the edge of the river to wash some of the dirt out of his pelt. Finding a comfortable place, and starting on his ears, Finch began to think about what his discovery today could mean for him.

Could I live down here?, he thought as he shifted attention to his back.

It had been three moons since Finch had settled down anywhere after leaving the small group of rouges he had been raised with. He simply never liked living with other cats, they always seemed to drag him down and keep him from achieving his potential, _or at least from having any fun_. Finishing up with his tail, Finch gave the cavern another glance around.

 _It might be some work to get nesting materials down here, but there's lots of room, and its out of the wind. Maybe I can push things down in from the hole in the roof?_ With these and similar thoughts churning in his head, Finch gave his paws a few long thoughtful licks. Standing up and giving each leg a long stretch, he laped at the cool river. Sitting back down, he cast his gaze around one more time. Curling his tail in delight, he decided that the cavern and its quiet river would make the perfect home for him. With this decided, a sound Finch was was certainly no stranger to jarred him to more pressing matters, he was hungry.

 _I wish I hadn't missed that mouse earlier_ , he thought bitterly to himself as he got up to search for the tunnel he had marked earlier.

"Oh well," he mewed quietly as he padded around the wall of the cavern, "The life of a loner was never an easy one."

But that's what Finch enjoyed about it, he relished the challenge and took immense pride in his independence. Spotting his line in the dirt he began head towards the surface.

"Leaving so soon?" rang out a voice halting Finch in his tracks, "That is wise."

His heart pounding in his chest from the surprise, Finch tried to imagine that he had not heard it, but despite the fact that he would have given his own tail to believe himself, he couldn't. His fear ebbing, he found it replaced by a curious mixture of angry curiosity. Sliding out his claws, he turned to face this stranger.

The cat that sat calmly in front him however compleatly dissolved his anger in a heartbeat. This cat looked as ancient as the stones he sat on and as ugly as if he had been hit with every one of them.

"Wh..who are you"? Finch managed to stammer in his confusion as the strange cat stared back at him, or through him, he couldn't tell.

"I am rock." meowed the strange cat in a voice that seemed to eco with the knowledge of a thousand moons."I've been watching you stalk about my home, and I sense that you intend on returning."

Finch was baffled, who was this cat, and how could he have possibly known what I was thinking? Feeling as traped as a mouse Finch wasn't going to bother trying to lie. "Your right, so what"?, said Finch with an edge of defiance in his mew.

"You don't belong here." Rock growled back without hesitation.

His anger bubbling up again, Finch took a few paces toward rock, "What's that supposed to mea..." he stopped before he could finish. Closer to rock now he could see more of the grotesque cat, but what had stopped Finch was nothing about how this cat looked; it was the blind eyes that stared back at him.

"This is not a place for the living to dwell." Rock pressed on.

Swallowing the worry Rock's words had put in his belly Finch took another pace forward, "Well that's ridiculous, who else could _live_ down here"? "What are _you_ doing down here"? The answer struck Finch before Rock could reply, everything about Rock suddenly made sense. _I must have bees in my brain, this isn't possible_. Finch had never been the kind of cat to believe the old tales of spirits, those were for kits he always told himself.

"I've lived for more moons than you could possibly count, so take my advice when I tell you that you _need_ to leave." "Go back to the surface and join the others." meowed Rock, interrupting Finches confused thoughts.

This made Finches tail twitch with irritation, _how dare this spirit tell me what to do_. "Listen here you old fleapelt," he spat, "I don't listen to spirits, I can take care of myself, and I'm not going anywhere." slamming down a front paw as he finished.

Humor seemed to flash behind Rock's blind eyes, sighing, he turned and started padding back into the depths of the cavern. "Fine, stay here if you want, perhaps your as mouse brained as you look."

With Rock gone now Finch lingered a moment wondering if what had just happened was real. His belly growled again and reluctantly he padded back into the tunnel to the surface.

 _Great, of all the places I find to call home, I find the one with a dead cat living in it._

 **Author's Notes _: Chapter 2 is soon to follow, I hope you enjoyed the first one. Read & review, please!_**


	2. Chapter 2

Lessons (Finch & Home) Chapter 2

 _Well, at least my belly is full_ , thought Finch shaking the morning dew out of his pelt and casting a glance at the bones of the vole he had caught last night. Finch couldn't help but notice the way his breath turned to fog in the chilly leaffall air.

The night had been a long and restless one for the young loner. With hunting taking up more time than he would have liked, searching for shelter taking up even more, and thoughts of what he had seen, or thought he had seen, eating up the rest, Finch finally fell into an uneasy sleep just as the moon was beginning to fall. But even this was disturbed by dreamed of reenactments of his encounter in the underground cavern with Rock. Now, after having woken up at about sunhigh and stretched his mussels with a quick hunt, he settled down in a sunny clearing to plot his next move.

 _This is not a place for the living to dwell_. Rock's words rattled back and forth in Finch's head as he took a bite out of the mouse he caught. "Living," he mewed to himself. _What other types of cat are there?_

He was still very hesitant to suddenly just accept the existence of spirits. Still, he had to admit to himself that for once, his curiosity had not got the better of him and pushed him back into the cavern after his hunt. Spirt or not, there was certainly something about the mysterious cave dweller that Finch couldn't explain.

Shaking his head in frustration, Finch cleared the doubts from his head. Spirits or no spirits, I'm not being scared out of my new home so easily.

Finishing the rest of his mouse in a few rapid bites, Finch sat up and gave his paws a quick wash. His pelt warmed by the sun and his belly now pleasantly full, he found his old resolve. _I going to see if I can find the spot where the cavern opens up on the surface._ Opening his mouth now, Finch let the scents of the land wash over him. Various prey scuffling about in the undergrowth, the trace of a storm brewing in the distance, but no hint of the damp stones that would have given away the cavern and its dark river. Flattening his ears in frustration, Finch closed his eyes and tried to think of how else he could find the opening.

A moment passed by in silence. The half bare branches overhead clattered in the wind. _I've got to find a proper home before leafbare sets in_. Then, as if his head had only needed such a stray thought to reorganize itself, an idea popped into Finch's head.

Leaping excitedly onto his paws, Finch made his way quickly to the tunnel entrance he used the day before. Reaching it in no time, he took a few paces in and took note which way the tunnel headed. Remembering his foray into it last night, he recalled that this particular tunnel didn't curve much or have any sharp turns. With this in his head, Finch backed out of the tunnel, careful not to change the direction he was facing. Back fully above the ground now, he began padding in as straight a line as he could through the forest. _If I don't find the cavern, I can at least find another tunnel to follow._

Padding stealthily through the trees, Finch stopped every so often to check for the scent of stones and water that would lead him to his goal. _I'm running out of time_ , he thought, gazing up at the sun on one of these stops. Nevertheless, he pushed forward desperately hoping to find at least another tunnel before sundown.

The shadows were beginning to grow long and creep through the forest when Finch finally found the scent he was hunting for. Raising his tail in excitement, he quickly found himself approaching a large, dead, seemingly ancient, juniper tree. As he closed in on it, Finch noticed that the base of the tree was surround entirely by a thick tangle of bramble. "Fox dung" he spat, coming to a stop in front of the wall. _If I crawl through that I'll be picking thorns out of my fur for moons._

Reassured by the scent of damp stone on the air though, Finch clawed his way into the bracken without further hesitation. Grunting with the effort of fighting the thick tendrils, Finch found himself panting with exhaustion by the time he finally pulled his tail out of the other end of the thicket. His fur ruffled and heavy with thorns but still optimistic, Finch began searching franticly amongst the roots and around the base of the tree for what he was certain would be the tunnel he was looking for.

Finch circled the tree several times, and stuck his muzzle under every root that snaked across the ground, but found only frustration as there was no tunnels or opening of any kind to be found. Straining his senses yet again, Finch was baffled, now more than ever, he could smell the scent of the underground world, he even thought he heard the dim trickle of the subterranean river. _I don't get it, the opening must to be here._

After one more trip around the old tree, Finch reluctantly dragged himself back through the dense brambles. On the outside again, Finch sat down in in a storm of anger and confusion. After several minutes spent clawing at the grass, he grudgingly decided to cut his losses and find food and shelter for the night.

Noticing how rapidly the forest was darkening, Finch decided quickly to spend the night in between the roots of the old juniper. _There is a hole through the briars now_ , he thought bitterly.

A flash of movement caught the corner of his eye, turning to track it, he spotted a mouse nibbling on a seed just outside the edge of a bush. It was seemingly oblivious to Finch's presence. _At least the prey is making it easy today_. Dropping to a crouch, Finch pulled himself slowly forward, careful to keep his tail from disturbing the leaf litter. _Just one more step_. He pounced. Claws outstretched, they sank into the mouse with ease, pinning it. Bending down to dispatch the trapped animal with a quick bite to the neck, Finch was taken completely off guard as he was thrown heavily to his side by the weight of another creature hitting him in the side. Startled and a little dazed, Finch managed to scramble back onto his paws and in blind fury leap at his attacker. Landing squarely on his mark, it became clear to Finch that his aggressor was another cat. _Good, at least it's not a badger or a fox._ Raking his hind claws down the back of the other cat, he felt confident he could make quick work of his foe. Distracted by thoughts of victory, Finch was surprised when, with shocking speed, his enemy dropped to its belly and rolled over, sending Finch sprawling once more onto his side. Before he could find his paws again he felt the slice of claws across his muzzle. Blood immediately welling up and dripping onto the ground below. Enraged by his new injury, Finch let out a yowl of utter rage and leaped back at the cat. Sailing high through the air, Finch felt confident he could push the cat to the ground with the sheer force of the impact. He was surprised however, when upon landing on the foe, it rolled out of the way and kicked its hind legs out in a powerful kick. Thinking faster than he ever thought he could, Finch countered with a kick mirroring that of the attacker. This sent both cats flying away from each other leaving both struggling to find their breath as they got back up.

After what felt like a lifetime, both cats found each other glaring at each other, tails lashing back and forth. For the first time Finch could finally study his opponent. It was a she-cat, her pelt was a silvery white streaked with slight stripes of a darker grey. Staring directly into her piercing blue eyes, he expected her to launch herself back at him. He didn't know what to do though when then the aggression in her eyes seemed to vanish and was replaced by something else. _Is that, humor_?

Purring loudly and shaking visibly now with laughter, the she-cat could looked like she could barely stand on her paws. "I never thought I that a thorn bush could ever fight back like that." She managed to choke out between her gasp for air.

"What!" Finch shot back in indignation.

"Your pelt, your more plant than cat." She meowed back, still struggling to bring herself under control.

Hot with embarrassment, Finch remembered the thorns that must be clinging to his pelt from his trip through the brambles. _She must think I'm a kit who can't groom myself_. At a loss for a decent defense for himself, Finch ignored the she-cat's mocking and retorted angrily. "Why did you attack me, that mouse was mine!"

Having regained a bit of her composure, the she cat responded casually as she began to lick the wounds on her back. "Coincidence, we both jumped at the same time." She finished with a flick of her tail.

Finch didn't know if he believed her excuse or not. Seeing that she wasn't hostile anymore though, he decided to just let it go. _After all, what's done is done_ , he thought. "Well which one of us gets it"? Finch pressed on, jerking his head towards the spot where the body of the mouse still lay.

"You keep it, you gave the killing bite." The she cat replied turning back from tending to the wounds on her back. "Tell you what though, that scratch on your muzzle looks pretty deep. If you want, I know some herbs that grow around here that can help you, I'll trade you your mouse for them."

Only now did Finch remember the scratch on his muzzle. He ran a paw quickly over the wound. _It is pretty bad_ , he thought as he looked at his now blood soaked paw. Knowing how mousebrained it would be to just leave the injury unchecked, Finch found his paws tied. _I don't know the first thing about herbs, and I really can't afford an infection this close to leafbare._ The thought dragging Finch back to the time he had seen one of the rouges in his old group die from an infection that could have been cured if the leafbare snows hadn't killed all of the herbs. "Fine, just eat quick, I've got other things I need to do."

At this the she-cat padded over to the mouse and began eating it in clean rapid bites, leaving Finch to clean the blood off his paw and pull some of the thorns out of his fur. The she-cat finished quickly, gave her own paws a quick washing, and headed back to where Finch sat. Moving swiftly, "come on," she called back behind her, using her tail to flick Finch's ear as she passed. Pushing his annoyance aside, Finch followed close behind.

The moon was climbing rapidly into the sky now. _Great, another late night_ , Finch thought irritably as the two cats walked at a quick pace through the shadows of the forest. "So, what's your name"? The she-cat's voice broke into his thoughts.

"Who wants to know"? Finch shot back almost instinctively.

"Hmm... I see it's not just the thorns in your pelt that make you so prickly. I'm Moon." The she-cat replied with an air of amusement in her mew.

Finch still didn't trust this cat any more than he could change the seasons, but he couldn't find any reason not to give his name. "My name's Finch."

"Perhaps that explains why you look so bird brained," Moon meowed back still not breaking her stride or turning her head.

"And maybe your name explains why you're so hapless," Finch replied, feeling the first faint flicker of amusement he had in moons.

At this Moon whirled around. "Who are you calling hapless"? Her voice almost cracking with indignation. "If it weren't for you looking like a holly bush, I'd have clawed you into next Greenleaf"!

Pleased to finally have the upper paw for the first time since the two of them met, Finch replied with a smirk. "That's exactly what makes you so hapless, you left yourself vulnerable to attack just because you found something funny."

"Well, I'm not as hapless as the cat who can't smell when another cat is stalking their prey," meowed Moon challengingly.

"I'll flatten you with one paw." Finch retorted.

The two cats glared at each other for a seemingly endless minute. Only the shriek of a nearby owl brought them back to their senses with a start.

"We should be moving, it's getting late. Come on, we're almost there." Moon turned away with an irritated flick of her tail.

Night had completely set in by the time Finch and Moon came to a stop in front of a plant growing at the base of a small oak tree. The large leaves of the plant swayed in the night breeze.

"This is dock." meowed Moon through clenched teeth as she chewed one of the leaves off of the plant and then chewed it into a pulp. "It grows almost everywhere there are trees, I'd try to remember it if I were you."

Finch couldn't tell if that was supposed to be a threat. Taking note of its tangy smell and broad leaves, Finch committed the plant to memory. "Ah, that stings!" he hissed, wincing as Moon, without warning, began lapping the chewed up plant into the cut on his muzzle.

Finishing, Moon took a step back, "yeah, that's another way to tell it from other herbs."

"Thanks," Finch grumbled, his muzzle still stinging from the herb.

An awkward silence fell over the pair. The seconds seemed to drag on like the sun across the sky on a Greenleaf day. "Well, thanks anyway." Finch finally broke the tension. Giving Moon a final nod farewell he turned and began to pad away.

"Wait." he heard Moon call behind him. "You said you had other things you needed to do. What was it? As far as I know, there isn't anything to do around here but survive"?

Finch quickly tried to think of a lie to tell her, but for some reason he just couldn't think of one. _I've got to start finding more food, I can't think straight_. Sighing, he decided to tell her at least half the truth, he'd leave out the part about Rock. "If you _must_ know, I'm trying to get into the underground tunnels. I tracked the smell of an entrance to the base of that dead juniper, and was looking for the way in." To his surprise, Moon didn't ask him why he wanted into the tunnels. "But there was nothing there, so I guess I'll just forget the whole thing." Finch finished with a quick lie.

The old gleam of amusement seemed to return to the silver she-cat's now moonlit eyes. "Your not a very good liar you know, but that aside, your right abought the juniper being a way into the tunnels."

Finch's ears pricked up at this. "What do you know"?

"Didn't you notice? That juniper is hollow." meowed Moon.

The realization struck Finch immediately. _There must be a tunnel in the tree!_ Whirling around in a hurry, he began heading back to the old tree. To his annoyance though, he found Moon pacing by him step for step just a heartbeat later.

"I'm coming with you." Moon declared.

"Why"? Finch threw her an exasperated look.

"I don't have anything else to do, I may as well explore some tunnels with my new _friend_."

 _Wonderful, now I have a friend_ , thought Finch turning back to face the path. _Ughh_.

 **A/N :** There's chapter 2, much better than the first I think, but _**please**_ _,_ don't leave me wondering, _**read & review. **_Also, just in case this is actually necessary, (though I would imagine the fact that this is posted on a fan-fiction site would make it self-evident) I do not own any thing that I don't obviously own.


	3. Chapter 3

Lessons (Finch & Home) Chapter 3

Moon awoke groggily with a loud yawn. The sun was making its daily climb to its peak, and a cold wind blew steadily from the moors outside the forest. Climbing out from between the roots of the old juniper that had been her nest, she caught a glimpse of the loner she followed to the old tree last night. He was still asleep, his rusty brown flank rising and falling in steady rhythm. Moon wasn't surprised, the loner looked like he could barely stand by the time the two of them reached the tree.

Moon couldn't help but notice how the loner made a point of sleeping on the opposite side of the tree from her. _Hmpf, he's certainly a cautious one_ , she thought with a snort. _I guess I can't blame him for it though._ Catching sight of the scar on his muzzle, Moon felt a twinge of sympathy for the cat. _I defiantly cut him pretty deep_. She gingerly picked her way over to him and gave the now scarred flesh a closer inspection. _It's healing well though, at least, there's no sign of infection that is._

 _I suppose some hunting's in order now_. Moon flexed her claws.

Outside the bramble wall that surrounded the juniper tree, Moon probed the air optimistically for the scent of prey. _There must be something around here_. The leaffall had been fairly light so far, the prey wasn't nearly as scarce as it had been in ones before. _There!_ The scent of a squirrel wafted over her from a few trees away. Senses alert, Moon moved swiftly towards the scent. Coming to a stop below a birch tree, she looked up. _There it is!_ The squirrel sat in a fork of the tree a couple of tail lengths above chewing on a nut. _Hmm, how to do this?_ Moon took note of the wind direction. _I wish this thing would have been on the ground, I'd have had it by now_ , she thought as she sank her claws into a tree downwind of her quarry. As quietly as she could, she slipped from branch to branch until she was only a tail length away. The squirrel, still occupied by its own meal remained unaware of Moon. Judging the distance, Moon let go of her perch above the unsuspecting creature. Falling like a stone through the sky, Moon landed right on her mark. The squirrel let out the faintest squeak of alarm as Moon's claws grasped its flank. The grace of Moon's kill ended here. Not factoring in the squirrel's weight, Moon tumbled awkwardly off the branch with the squirrel still griped in her claws. Acting with lightning speed, Moon let the animal go and twisted her body around in the air. Falling more like a leaf caught in the wind than a stone now, Moon landed heavily on her paws. The squirrel landed with a crack and sickening thud a heartbeat later, its neck broken.

Moon slowly steadied herself and gave each paw a tentative shake. "Good, nothing's broken," she sighed with relief while looking over at the body of the squirrel. "Well I guess that's one way to do it," she shrugged, picking up the body and heading back to the juniper.

"Hmpf, I guess it was a little hopeful of me to think you'd left me alone now." The loner snorted when Moon pushed her way through the brambles around the juniper. He sat grooming himself on one of the tree's roots.

Moon dropped her squirrel. "And I guess it was a little mouse brained of me to think you'd have picked some of the ants out of your fur by now. Look Finch, I'm not that easy to get rid of. Now, if you want to act a little more kind, there's enough food here to share. I'll be here waiting if you can't."

Moon could see the hurt pride in Finch's eyes as the loner weighed her words.

 _At least he's not as dumb as he is irritating_ , she thought as Finch finally let out a sigh of defeat and padded over to where Moon sat with her prey.

"You're lucky that I haven't eaten since sunhigh yesterday," meowed the loner begrudgingly.

Moon couldn't help but feel a stab of sympathy for the proud cat _. I guess I'd be just as hurt if I had to rely on a cat I just met to catch my food._

Without exchanging more than a few awkward and uneasy glances at each other, the two cats ate in their prey with hungry zeal. By now the sun was shining brightly in the clear skies and the forest was beginning to fall into a midday, windswept silence.

"So, I'd say we have some tunnels that need exploring," meowed Moon, sitting up from her meal and throwing her eyes to the old juniper behind Finch.

"Yes, I suppose we do. Can I ask you something first though?

Moon shrugged, "sure."

"If you knew about the tunnels and this tree being an entrance, and you wanted to explore them before, why did you have to wait for me to come along to explore them? After all, you seem more than capable of protecting yourself."

Moon gave Finch a long stare as she thought of a response. "Sometimes Finch," she replied after a moment, "a cat has to admit to certain fears of things. I for one, don't like sticking my paws where my eyes can't guide them. You however, seem to have no issues with that. So, here we are," she finished with a dismissive flick of her tail.

"Right," was all the loner replied with a huff. "Well come on then."

Following in silence, Moon took a place beside Finch below the ancient trunk and sat looking up searching for anything that could be an entrance.

"We know it's hollow…" Meowed Finch trailing off as he curled his tail around his paws.

The pair continued searching the tree for any sign of an entrance.

"There!" Moon called out excitedly, shattering the silence that had fallen between the trees. "Right there! Look, it's just about halfway up. There's an old owl hole. That must be it."

"It's worth a shot." Replied Finch as his gaze shifted to follow Moon's.

Without waiting for a reply the loner bunched his mussels and launched himself at the tree. The climb wasn't an easy one. With the exception of a single stub of a branch that clung relentlessly to the decaying trunk just below the owl hole, the tree had no other spots where a cat could sit and catch its breath. Nevertheless, Moon spotted Finch waiting for her on the branch moments later. Even from the distance she sat away from him, Moon could practically see the determination radiating off the loner. _Okay, here we go_.

Grunting with the effort, Moon finally hauled herself onto the branch beside Finch sometime soon after she began her climb. "Lead the way pathfinder." She nodded toward the tunnel with a slight smirk.

Rolling his eyes, finch turned and padded into the hollow. Moon watched as the tip of his tail disappeared into the darkness.

 **A/N :** _Nothing to note. But on that note, Does a note of no note, note anything? Leave your answer in a review._


	4. Chapter 4

Lessons Chapter 4

Finch's claws ached as he scrambled down the hollow trunk. Gripping the crumbling wood with all four paws and hoping that the drop wasn't too far was all he could do to keep his calm. _I wish I hadn't gone headfirst. At least Moon's not fairing any better_. The pained gasp coming from the silver laced she-cat a taillength or so overhead gave finch a slight feeling of satisfaction.

Suddenly, the wood under Finch's front paws gave way. Plunging suddenly, Finch tumbled into darkness. His heart pounding in his chest, he was relived to find himself still breathing as he lay sprawled on the gently sloped floor of a tunnel. Getting up quickly, Finch shook the dirt and last bits of shock out of his fur and was relieved to find the tunnel big enough for a cat to stand in and even big enough for two cats to stand next to each other if they wanted. A heartbeat later, Moon came to the same kind of bumbling sprawl Finch had.

"You could have chosen an easier route, you know." Meowed the she-cat, shaking the dirt from her own pelt and looking a bit indigent from her less the graceful decent.

"Once again," Finch meowed coolly, "you didn't have to follow me. Would you rather lead, pathfinder"? He couldn't help but throw the last part out with a hint of amused sarcasm.

Moon just rolled her eyes, "Just get on with it you annoying furball."

Finch turned around and strained his senses. The cramped, wet conditions of the tunnel made it impossible to navigate by scent. The damp earth soaked up any sign that might distinguish the cavern from any other part of the dark network. Frustratingly, Finch found his hearing equally as impaired by the twisting tunnels. What he could hear of the river seemed to eco from all directions, as if to create some sort of ghostly voice of the underground. Mocking him and his lack of sense of direction.

Flattening his ears at the inconvenience, Finch was forced to just choose a direction and hope it was the right one. Using his whiskers as a guide, he started padding down the tunnel in the direction that led downslope. _Water flows downhill right?_ "This way," he threw behind him as he brushed past Moon.

"How do you know"? Huffed Moon as she scurried to catch up with Finch.

"I don't."

Moon let out a hiss of anger and contempt for her guide.

Hearing this, Finch couldn't help but feeling a prick of annoyance. "You..."

"Didn't have to come, I know." Moon finished his sentence, clearly aggravated.

Fine with this, Finch let quiet swallow them, and quickened his pace down the tunnel.

As the moments slipped by in colourless silence, and the tunnel showed no sign of emptying out into anything else but more tunnel, Finch discovered for the first time in a day and a half, he had time to mull over the things that got him here and where he could go now.

 _Have I gone insane?_ The thought couldn't help but weigh on Finches mind. _Is all this trouble really worth it?_ _It is just a dim cave._ _It might have been if I weren't having to drag that annoying she-cat in my pawsteps, ugh. Hopefully she'll leave after we get out of the tunnels._ Taking a deep breath, Finch pushed the pestering thoughts out of his head. _At any rate, there is one thing that needs to be, no, will be, settled today._ The thought of confronting Rock again made Finch's pelt crawl with apprehension.

"Fox dung"! _That hurt._ Lost in his head, Finch failed to notice that the tunnel had widened out and split, and walked straight into the wall of earth between the two tunnels. With his already scarred muzzle searing in pain, he took a step backwards, sat down, and waited agonizingly for the pain to fade.

"Are you going to be ok"? Moon's voice rang in Finch's ears as the she-cat came to a halt next to him.

"No, I'm not. You're going to have to burrow to the surface and find help." Hissed Finch sarcastically through clenched teeth.

"Well you can still be annoying, so you can't be that hurt." Was all the comfort Moon bothered to give the loner before sitting down and cleaning the dirt off of her face.

Sighing with relief as the pain faded to a dull sting, Finch finally started thinking about which tunnel to go down now. Casting a quick glance down either one, he bent to wash his chest while he weighed the options.

Finishing this quickly, and having not come up with any reason to pick one tunnel over the other, he decided he'd just leave the choice up to Moon. "Right or left"? Finch asked. Moon's silence seemed to float with the same air of indecisiveness as Finch felt in his head.

"Follow me." The words drifted eerily into Finch's ears, sending a chill up his spine. "Did you say something"? Finch asked, puzzled.

"No, I'm still waiting on you."

Just then, a flicker of movement darted in the side of Finch's vision. "Did you see that"?

"I can't see anything. What's with all the questions all of a sudden? Just pick a tunnel."

Tracking the movement with his eyes, Finch found himself staring down one of the tunnels, and was bewildered to see what seemed to be the faint outline of another cat padding down the tunnel. Words echoed in Finch's ears again, "this way." _How many cats are down here?_ Thought Finch as he began padding after the figure, unable to resist. "Come on," he called back to Moon.

Still following the strange shape at a brisk pace, the image suddenly began to fade as if it were breaking away from them. "Wait"! Finch almost yowled, almost breaking into a full run.

"For what"? Moon called back in confusion, trying to catch up with Finch. "What's got you running now"?

Ignoring her question, Finch pressed on. Suddenly, a familiar glow seeped into the darkness. _The cavern! Finally!_

Bursting out into the cavern a moment later, Finch frantically scanned for the cat he had seen in the tunnel. _Nothing_ , he thought in confusion, _cats don't just disappear like that._ "Where'd you go" Finch yowled the question into the stone hollow.

"Who, or what, are you yowling at"? Moon meowed completely perplexed, as she finally caught up with Finch.

Finch thought quickly to dodge the question. "I, uh, was just making sure you were keeping up," he lied.

"Right." Moon meowed flatly. "This cavern is pretty amazing. Is this why you were trying to get down here"? She meowed after a moment.

"Yes" Finch mumbled hoping that Moon wouldn't press the matter any further.

"Why? I mean, it's neat and all, but there's no reason I can think of that a cat would be as desperate to get down here as you were."

Finch pawed the ground nervously as he searched for a way to answer the question. "You were pretty eager to come down here the second you found a cat to come with." Finch meowed eventually, still trying to avoid telling Moon everything.

Moon eyed Finch suspiciously. "Fair enough," she meowed

Seeing his chance to escape any further questions, Finch started to move away from Moon back towards the cavern wall. "Now where are you going"? Moon's last question floated through the dimly lit air.

"I'm going to mark the tunnel we came through so we know which way is out. Go explore, you can see your own paws now." To his relief the she-cat shrugged and began padding out towards the middle of the cave. _At least that's somewhat true_ , he thought to himself. The reality was that in his haste to catch up with strange light in the tunnel, he had forgotten to keep track of which tunnel they had come through. _I'll just find the line I made in front of the tunnel the last time I was here_ , he reassured himself. _Then I'll deal with Rock_.

Other than the trickle of the river, and the occasional scuff of paws on earth and stone, the cavern was utterly silent. _Now if only I could settle the issue with Rock and get Moon out of my fur, I could actually enjoy the peace down here_. Finch thought as he made his way steadily around the edge of the cavern in search of his mark; being careful to always keep Moon a fair distance away. Throwing her a glance now, he caught her eyes. _Mouse dung_! He tried to look as unassuming as he could while Moon stared at him quizzically for a moment. Finch's mussels relaxed as the silver cat turned her gaze and went about her business without a word. _That was close._ "I need to get a move on."

Before he knew it, the moments were turning into what felt like an eternity that weighed heavily in Finch's belly. _Where is that mark?_ _What else is down here that could erase it?_ Having circled every pawstep of the cavern's edge, Finch was at a complete loss as the questions began whirling in his head, and whether or not he believed the answers that he kept coming to, they worried him nonetheless. Finally, he came to a stop. _I guess we'll just have to find a new tunnel and hope it leads out, at least we ate well before we came down here. I guess I'll try to deal with Rock now._ _How can I find him_ , turning around as his thoughts trailed off; Finch nearly jumped out of his fur upon finding the old blind cat staring at him a few taillengths away. _How long has he been there?_

"Long enough," The ancient cat let out in a low growl. "And I see you are actually as mousebrained as you look."

Waiting long enough for his mussels to stop trembling from the scare, Finch stared Rock up and down trying to best judge how to handle the old cat. _I don't want to shed blood if I don't have to._

"You won't get anywhere attacking me. I thought you would at least have figured that out by now." Rock's words broke into his thoughts.

 _H, he read my mind. How?_ Shocked into complete silence, Finch could only stare dumbly back. Something at Rock's paws caught Finch's eye. _A stick?_

Without saying a word, Rock rolled the stick over and with eerie calmness scratched two lines into the wood. Peering closer now, Finch could see that the stick was covered with similar marks. Still speechless, he just stared back at Rock.

"You are not where you should be. You _may_ leave, but you will not return here _if_ you do, it is not your destiny, nor your partner's." At this, Rock padded into the darkness leaving finch alone with his swirling thoughts.

 _May? If? Destiny? Partner?_ "Moon"! _Where did she go?_ Finch tried to think of the last time he had seen her. An ominous clap of thunder burst into the cavern and rushed over Finch. _A storm!_ The vague memory of smelling rain on the air yesterday came back to him. Rain began to pour heavily through the cavern's roof, and the river seemed to start swelling immediately. _We've got to get to the surface!_

Finch searched frenziedly around the cavern for Moon. _She must have gone into one of the tunnels_ , he thought with frustration. _So much for needing a guide_. _Wait, this is my chance to get rid of her_. Finch immediately shook the thought from his head. "I'm not _that_ evil," he told himself.

Focusing once more for a sign to follow, a familiar glow flickered in the mouth of a tunnel on the other side of the cavern. A voice drifted over him, the same one from earlier, "Hurry, we don't have much time." The glow disappeared into the tunnel.

 _I'll take what I can get_. Paws pounding hard on the rough stone, Finch took a running leap over the fast growing river. He landed hard on his front paws, his back ones sliding on the now slick stone and sending pain roaring into his body. Ignoring this, Finch frantically clawed his way out of the river and continued his race to the tunnel.

His paw steps splashing heavily in the water that trickled down the tunnel's floor, Finch limped through the darkness desperately searching for signs of Moon. The strange voice slid into his ear, "turn here." Too shaken to protest even mentally, Finch obeyed and followed the glowing shape down a side tunnel. He could swear he could feel the pelt of another cat brushing his.

Every heartbeat seemed to drag at his stamina. _I've got to find Moon. I've got to find a way out._ Finch could feel the strength seeping from his limbs. "Help"! The faint cry reached Finch's ear. "Moon! Where are you"? Finch called hopefully into the tunnel.

"Just a bit further ahead. Hurry please, I'm stuck." Moon's weary yowls for help seemed to be growing weaker by the moment.

Summoning up all the energy he could find, Finch limped faster down the tunnel, gasping in pain at every step. Finally, he spotted her. _Moon!_ "What's wrong"?

"I'm stuck. The wall of the tunnel collapsed over me when the rain started. You're going to have to dig."

The She-cat's labored breathing told finch that she must be in as more pain as he was. Working speedily, Finch clawed at the dirt burying Moon's flank. The time dragged on agonizingly as Finch's mussels screamed in protest, but eventually he managed to claw away a large chunk of the now water heavy dirt and stone. "Can you move now"?

"I'll try." Holding her breath against the pain, and with Finch still clawing away at the dirt holding her legs down, Moon hauled her back legs out of their earthen tomb, and promptly collapsed back to the floor gasping for breath.

Finch waited patiently for Moon to catch her breath, flicking his tail back and forth in an effort to calm his own mind. With the water running around his paws though, he was forced to break the silence. "How hurt are you? We need to move now," he meowed as calmly as he could manage.

The she-cat struggled to her paws, but buckled in a gasp of shock as she put weight on her hind leg. "I think it's sprained. Come over here and help me up, I can still limp out of here."

Reassured by her resilience, and glad for someone to lean on himself, Finch slid into position by Moon and helped her up. Finally steady on her paws, Moon looked at Finch. "Do you know the way out"?

"Yes," he meowed as confidently swallowing his own doubt, while the two limped in tandem back the way they had come; water still flowing steadily under paw. _Please show us the way out_ , Finch pleaded silently to himself.

Coming to the larger tunnel, Finch and Moon stopped to catch their breath. "Which way now"? Moon asked in a tone heavy with exhaustion. Finch tried to maintain his composure as he looked for an answer that he believed himself. "Uhh," he began and broke off as the feeling of another cat's pelt brushed past his, "This way out, quickly, you're running out of time." Practically out of his wits at the now fourth encounter with the strange, apparently, invisible cat, Finch kept himself together, and resolved to get Moon and himself out, and ask questions later. "Come on, it's not much further," Finch pushed Moon back onto her paws, ignoring the pain in his own leg.

Practically dragging their paws across the ground, the two came to a steep incline in the tunnel. Moonlight streamed down, bouncing off the water that still flowed into the tunnels mouth. At the brink of exhaustion, both cats bunched the mussels in their hind legs, and with the last shred of strength they had, pushed their way out of the tunnel.

Staggering forward with the momentum of their last effort the two cats fell in a tangled heap of wet fur, mud, defeat. Finch's eyes slammed closed the same instant he hit the ground, sleep engulfing him entirely as the rain gently lapped the mud from his pelt.

 **A/N :** _Srory to the flwooelr(s) of tihs sroty for the lnog wiat on cetpahr 4, neverthelses, hree it is! I hpoe you eojny. Let me konw waht you tnihk auobt it in a reivew or PM. The tcirk wtih the spimlelg is cool, no?_


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